Art of spool manufacture



R. S. BOLGER.

ART OF SPOOL MANUFACTURE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. 1919.

1 3 33 Patented Jan. 18, 1921. 55 4.1. .3 1 5 5 EM MIIIFIIIHM' uim 10 1ig. 2. if 7 9 ,5

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT S. BOLGER, OF RICHMOND HILL, NEW 'i'OItIK.v

ART OF SPOOL MANUFACTURE' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 3, 1919. Serial No.287,123.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT S. BOLGER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Richmond Hill, in the county of Queens and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful Improvements in Art of SpoolManufacture, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the art of spool manufacture,pertainlng more particularly to spools and analogous articles formed ofpaper stock.

\Vhile spools and analogous art1cles such for. instance as cops,etc.,have heretofore been produced from paper stock material, theproduction has generally been of atype involving variousd1fficult1ese1ther in production or in the resulting producttending toincrease the factor of cost of production or an inferior product.

For instance, it is the practice to produce such structures by winding ablank upon itself to provide a plurality, of convolutions adhesivelyconnected, and then add a second blank or blanks to provide the endconfiguration of the cop or spool the latter blank or blanks being woundupon the previously wound blank so as to produce the proper endconfiguration by a plurality of superposed convolutions. This not onlyrequires theuse of two or more independent blanks, but also requires atleast two independent and successive operations to provide the woundcondition, after the blanks have been produced, since winding of thefirst blank to its substantially completed form 1s re quired before thewinding of the end configuration blank or blanks can be started. Therequirements for the production and handling of the two or more types ofblanks and the necessity for handling these blanks as separate elementsand under successive operation conditions provldes a ,material factor inthe cost of production of the ar-;

which theconvolutions are of different volutions.

widths to provide the desired contour of such end configurations, thuspractically requiring a blank varying in width from one end to theother, producing a condition inherently tending to increase the cost.

The present invention is designed to overcome these difficulties in amanner to greatly decrease the cost of manufacture. This is hadprimarilyv by the use of a single blank in the production of the spoolor cop, with the blank of s'uchform that it can be produced from a stripof paper stock by a simple cutting operation, the form of the blankbeing such that wastage of material 'is reduced to a minimum and isprovided at such point as to not affect the cutting operation or theproduct.

The width of the strip corresponds to the I that it forms more than asingle convolution of the spool or cop and is preferably, although notabsolutely essentially positioned in the completed spool as anintermediate portion or zone of the spool con- In other words, the innerand outer convolutions of the completed spool are varied in these crosssectional configurations,

' but an intermediate portion-which controls the length of the spool andcan be considered as forming the foundation-is located at anintermediate point; the particular arrangement may be considered asproducing both inner and outer convolutions with respect to thisfoundation zone.

Another feature lies in the fact that the spool may, if desired, beproduced without the adhesive connection of successive con- .volutions.Adhesive may be limited to outer convolutions, or a separate strip maybe secured about the wound end configurations and adhesively securedthereto or not, or the wound condition may be maintained by the use of aband or an end capmetallic or otherwisethis being made possible by thefact that the convolutions are formed from an integral blank.

Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

By this arrangement it is possible to produce the blanks successivelyfrom a strip or web without material loss or wastage, the portionproviding the inner convolutions of one spool being obtained from theortion of the strip which provides the convolutions of the endconfigurations of anotherspool.

- This not only permits of the cutting of the blank in simple manner, asby the use of complemental rotating cutting dies, but in addition,provides a. form of blank which can be readily provided with theadhesive material by the use of simple mechanism with the adhesive inthe form of a solid coating or in the form of zones, since the entirestructure is made from a simple and single blank.

To these and other ends, therefore,'the nature of which will be readilyunderstood as the invention is hereinafter disclosed,v said inventionconsists in the improved methods and the products resulting therefrom,as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference charactersindicate similar parts in each of the views,

Fi re 1 is a plan view of a strip divided into lanks for practising theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a'plan view of a .single blank, said figures showing theblanks'considerably shorter in proportion to their width than blanksused in actual practice, the actual length of said blanks beingapproximately 2% times that shown in said figures relative to the widthof the blanks therein.

Fig. 3 is a face View of a completed spool,

a portion being broken away.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 44,' of Fig. 3. I

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view showing Fig. 6 is a detail sectionalview showing the use of a cap. The blank employed, indicated at 10, em-

' bodies a zone a of the full width of the blank mainder of the blank isin the form of a pair of projecting portions 0 extending from zone a ina direction opposite to that of zone 6,

and which may be considered as a third zone, these portions 0 havingtheir outer side edges on the planes of the side edges ofzone a, withthe inner edges of these portions inclined to such planes, thusproviding a space-flared outwardly from zone wbetween portions 0. Theblank so described is one which is designed for the production of aspool and hence is formed with two portions 0, the width of zone acorresponding to the length of the spool; where the structure isemployed as a cop, the width of zone a would obviously be increased, andone of the portions 0 would be omitted.

The several zones are defined from each formed as by the use of arotating cutting apparatus which carries cutting dies suitable forcutting the web at the proper points.

As shown in Fig. 1, the actual length of zone I) is less than the lengthof portions 0, a distance-w-representing a portion of the stock whichmay be wasted. This distance may be varied to meet the particular formof spool which is to be manufactured, and such distance may extendsubstantially the full length of portions 0 so that the side edges ofthe blank would all be in the same plane, practically combining zones 11and 6 into one zone. owever, it is preferred to employ zone 6, in theform shown and the particular length of this zone which is to beemployed may be varied in meeting the exigencies of use through varyingthe distance w.

, In forming the spool, zone *1) is first woundthus .producing the ixmerconvolutions of the spool-zone a being wound upon zone I), the continuedwinding then winding portions 0 upon zone a. This has the effect ofproducing a spool formation in which the inner convolutions of the spoolare of less width than those of the intermediate convolutionsthe latterbeing the full length of the spool -the difference in width, however,being comparatively small, since the portions omitted at the sides ofzone Z) are provided by the narrower parts of portions 0; hence thereductionwill not materially affect the ability to use the spool ona'spindle, especially where the spool carries the closure usuallyapplied at the ends of spools-the punctured paper tending to M. ter intothis space and thus aid in preventing damage to the interior of thespool.

While this zone I) of reduced width does not materially affect theoperation of the spool in use, it is of material advantage in the costof production of the spool, for the reason that it forms a portion ofthe material from which the body portion of the spool is produced. Thisbody portion is required to have a certain number of con-' volutions inorder to provide the desired diameterand strength, and zone 5 provides aportion of the supply for these convolutions; 1f the form of zone I) ischanged to substantially increase the length of zone a in order toprovide the requisite number of convolutions, the change in result willbe that a less number of blanks could be obtained from a given length ofstrip. For instance, if the distance between the end b of zone 6 to theopposite end of zone a represents the length tof material required toproduce the desired number of convolutions,

of blanks be produced from a strip, but

wastage would be increased through the loss ofall of the materialbetween portions 0.

As will be understood, this saving provides a material factor in thecost of production of spools in quantity, representing approximately 25%of the cost of material, through the possibility of increasing thenumber of blanks to be secured from a given length from three to four.

After zone a has been wound upon zone I), the continued winding placesportions 0 as added convolutions at. the ends of the spools, the addedconvolutions providing a tapered effect as the convolutions are added,the outer edges .of portions 0, however, extending on the same plane asthese edges of zone a so that the actual end faces of the spool are on asingle plane.

While not essential, as presently pointed out, it is preferred thattheconyolutions be adhesively connected, this result being provided byapplying adhesive material to a face of the blank, either with a'solidcoating or with a zonal or spotted effect as may be desired, it beingpreferred to omit adhesive at the end 5 of zone I) a distance suflicientto leave the exposed face of the inner convolution free from adhesive.

The presence of this adhesive especially where the blank is tightlyrolled-an operation made possible by the formationof the particularblank shown-there may be caused a tendency of adhesive to ooze out atthe edges as the winding continues. This is not of material disadvantagein connection with the side edges of zone I) and inner edges of portions0, since this exposed adhesive, if

permitted to dry before treatment, may act as more or less of a filleron the inner face of the spool and portions and of the cavity on theinterior of the spool, thereby permitting the use of a tool tosmooththese portions and produce a closer approach to a uniform surface atthese points, and at the same time the presence of this adhesive fillingwould tend to more firmly-unite the convolutions through the more orless connecting action at the edges of the convolutions.

As will be readily understood, the winding is substantially continuousin one direction throughout the formation of the spool, so that there isno handling of a plurality of blanks in the formation of the spool, andthere isno requirement of adjusting one blank relative to another inorder that the completed product will have the outer end faces of the"spool extending on a single plane, it being-readily understood thatmore or less care is required in connecting a separate blank for the endconvolutions owing to the difiiculty of producing an accurateregistration and alinement of the outer edge of such added blank withthe outer edge of the blank of the body portion. This difficulty will bereadily understood in considering the fact that the relative positionsof the convolutions in a closely wrapped winding is practicallydetermined by the initial convolution, any error in position of thatconvolution being accentuated as the other convolutions are added.Since, in the present invention, portions 0 are integral parts of theblank, there is no adjustment re quired and assurance is bad that theconvolutions produced by winding of these portions upon theconvolutionsof zone a will provide the desired uniformity in the planesof the end faces. As a result, the cost of manufacture of the spools arethus further materially reduced through the elimination of the necessityof providing such accurate adjustment.

Obviously, this saving, in addition to the savings provided by theentire elimination of the necessity for operating with different typesof blanks on the same spool and the proper assembly of the differentblanks, etc., act as factors in producing a decrease in cost ofproduction of the spool.

As heretofore pointed out, the spool preferably has its convolutionsadhesively connected. This, however, is not essential, since theadhesive may be limited to the outer convolutions, or, if desired, aseparate paper strip may be wrapped about and adhesively connected tothe outer convolutions, or the adhesive connection may be omitted andthe wound condition maintained by a simple band of suitablev material orby a cap placed over the end. For instance, in Fig. 5, I show the use ofa band-likeelement 15 which may be a paper strip with overlappingsecured ends or it may be a solid metallic band or a resilient splitband the purpose being to retain the spool in its wound condition bypreventing unwinding of the outer convolutions; it may nect a few of theinner convolutions.

In Fig. 6, I have shown this same result obtained by the application ofa cap 16 of suitable material, thuspreventing the unwinding action bypreventing expansion of the diameter of the wound convolutions.

No specific form of mechanism is disclosed for cutting the strip intothe blanks, nor for adhesively coating and winding the blanks.

These operations can obviously be performed by hand, as for instance bythe use of a templet for giving the desired shape to the blank incutting and the use of a'suitable 2O tool as a mandrel forwinding. Itwill be understood, of course, that for commercial purposes, the cuttingand winding will be by the use of proper mechanisms, the particularconstruction of which may be varied to meet the particular conditions,the present disclosure not being dependent upon any specific type ofmechanism to permit this practice.

As heretofore pointed out, the arrangement is capable of use in theformation of cops, etc. These may be provided by forming a spoolstructure of a length'twice that of the cop length, the spool then beingdivided midway of its length, thus producing two cops. In such case thewidth of the strip and of zone a will be twice that of the length of thecop. Or the cops may be made individually by making the width of zone aequal to the length of the cop, one of the 40 portions 0 being omitted,since the enlargement is carried by one end only of the cop, and in suchcase zone I) may have the edge on one side extend to the plane of thecorresponding edge of zone a, this edge being that corresponding to theside of the strip on which portion 0 is omitted, the opposite side edgebeing as shown.

It is to be understood, of course, that in referring herein to spool theter is not intended to be limited to a structure having the enlargementsat opposite ends excepting where the particular wording employedspecifically limits the term to this specific mean ing; in its broaderaspect, the term would of course, include more or less analogousstructures, such for instance as cops, etc., in which the enlargement atone end is omitted. While I have herein shown and described various waysfor practising the present invention, it will be readily understood thatchanges and modifications therein may be found desirable or necessary inmeeting the various exigencies of use, and I desire to be understood asreserving the right to make any and all such changes or modificationsHoe desirable in such case to adhesively conr each of lesswidth thansaid portion being in so far as-the same may fall within the spirit andscope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims whenbroadly construed.

Having thus described my invention, what 10 I claim as new is v 1. Inthe art of spool manufacture, the method of producing a spool formationfrom paper stock and which consists in winding upon itself a blank ofvarying cross-sectional characteristics at spaced-apart points in itslength to form a plurality of integrally-connected convolutions in whicha blank portion of constant characteristics forms more than a singleconvolution of the spool and pro vides the exposed supporting faceof'substantial length throughout for the contents to be carried by thespool, and securing the convolutions in wound relation.

2. In'the art of spool manufacture, the

method of producing a spool formation from paper stock and whichconsists in winding upon itself a blank of varying cross-sectionalcharacteristics at spaced-apart points in its length to form a pluralityof integrally connected convolutions in which a blank portion ofconstant characteristics forms more than a single convolution'of thespool and is located intermediate the inner and outer convolutions, andwhich provides the exposed supporting face for the contents to becarried by the spool, and securing the convolutions in wound relation.

3. In the art of spool manufacture, the method of producing a spoolformation from paper stock and which consists in winding upon itself anadhesively surfacedblank of varying cross-sectional characteristics atspaced-apart points in its length to form a plurality of integrallyconnected convolutions in which a blank portion of constantcharacteristics forms a zone composed of more than a single convolutionand positioned intermediate the inner and outer convolutions andprovides the exposed supportthe spool.

4. In the art of spool manufacture, the method of producing a spoolformation from paper stock and which consists in winding upon itself anadhesively-surfaced blank of varying cross-sectional characteristics atspaced-apart. points in its length to form a plurality ofintegrally-connected convolutions in'which a blank portion of constantcharacteristics forms more than a single convolution of the spool andprovides the exposed supporting face for the contents to be carried bythe spool, other convolutions superposed thereon to provide a confiningend configuration for such contents.

' 5. In the art of making spools from paper stock and wherein theblankis wound into spool formation to form the supporting surface forthe contents carried by the spool and a confining end for such contents,the step which consists in the production of a succession of such blanksfrom a strip havwidth of the strip, and a second zone of less widththroughout the length of the zone than such zone of constantcharacteristics, said zones being defined from each other by a cuttingline extending substantially transverse to the strip length.

6. In the art of making spools from paper stock andwherein the blank iswound into spool formation to form the supporting surface for thecontents carried by the spool and a confining end for such contents, thestep which consists in the production of a succession of such blanksfrom a strip having a width equal to the length of the completed spooland which consists in severing the blank to form a zone of the blankwith constant cross-sectional characteristics and having the full widthof the strip, and a second zone of less width throughout the length ofthe zone than such zone of constant characteristics, said zones beingdefined from each other by a cutting line extending substantiallytransverse to the strip length, said second zone having itscross-sectional characteristics varied at spaced-apart points of thezone.

7 In the art of making spools from paper stock and wherein the blank iswound into spool formation to form the supporting surface for thecontents carried by the spool and a confining end for' such contents,the step which consists in the production of a succession of such blanksfrom a strip having a width equal to the length of the completed spooland which consists in severing the blank to form a zone of the blankwith constant cross-sectional characteristics and having the full widthof the strip, and a zone at each end of said zone of constantcharacteristics, the material in said end zones being each of less widththroughout the length of the zone than such zone of constantcharacteristics, said zones being defined from each other by cuttinglines extending substantially transverse to the strip length.

8. In the art of making spools from paper stock and wherein the blank iswound into spool formation to form the supporting surface for thecontents carried by the spool and a confining end for such contents, thestep which consists in the production of a succession of such blanksfrom a strip havinga width equal to the length of the completed spooland which consists in severing the blank to form a zone of the blankwith constant cross-sectional characteristics and having a full width ofthe strip, and a zone at each end of said zone of constantcharacteristics, the material in saidend zones being each of less widththroughout the length of the zone than such zone of constantcharacteristics, said zones being defined from each other by cuttinglines extending substantially transverse to the strip length, a

side edge of one of said end zones being complemental to a side edge ofthe other end zone.

9. In the art of making spools from paper stock and wherein the blank iswound into spool formation to form the supporting surface for thecontents carried by the spool and a confining end for such contents, thestep which consists in the production of a succession of such blanksfrom a strip having a width equal to the length of the com- .pletedspool and which consists in severing the blank to form a succession ofzones of constant cross-sectional characteristics and of full width ofthe strip at spaced-apart points in the length of the strip and witheach zone forming a part of an individual blank, and severing the blankto form from the intermediate strip portions a zone at each end of andwith the'material in each of less width than such zones of constantcharacteristics, one end zone of a blank and the other end zone of theadjacent blank being formed from the same intermediate portion, therespective zones being defined from each other by cutting linesextending substantially transverse to the strip length, one of said endzones having a length equal to the length of such intermediate stripportion and embodying two zonal portions spaced apart a distance equalto the width of the other end zones on a cross section of suchintermediate portion of the strip.

10. In the art of manufacturing spools from blanks of sheet materialrolled to form a hollow'laminated spool having a central barrel ofsubstantial length throughout, a blank adapted to form a spool havingconcave ends, said blank being composed of a barrel-forming zone atleastequal in length to said barrel portion, and an end zone taperinginwardly from the outer edges of said barrel-forming zone.

11. In the art of manufacturing spools from blanks of sheet materialrolled to form a hollow laminated spool having a central barrel ofsubstantial length throughout, a blank ,adaptedto form a spool withoutwardly projecting flanges at the ends thereof, said blank including abarrel-forming zone having a width equal to the length of the spool andflange forming tongues extending lengthwise of the blank in continuationof the outer edges of said barrel-forniing zone, the inner ends ofsaidextensions being substantially spaced from each other.

12. In the art of manufacturing spools from blanks of sheet materialrolled to form a hollow laminated spool having a central barrel ofsubstantial length throughout, a blank adapted to form a spool, saidspool being provided with end flanges and concave ends, a blankincluding a central barreltion form, said blank having a plurality ofintegrally-connected zones, one of said zones having a uniform widthequal to the length of the spool and having a length to produce morethan a single convolution of the blank, a second zone being of lesswidth than said first mentioned zone, said zones being defined by acontour formation extending substantially transverse to the direction oflength of the blank.

14. A blank of paper stock adapted to produce spools when wound intoconvolution form, said blank having a plurality of integrally-connectedzones, one of vsaid zones having a uniform width equal to the length ofthe spool and having a length to produce more than a single convolutionof the blank, a second zone the material in which is of less width thansaid first mentioned' zone, said zones being defined by a contourformation extending substantially transverse to the direction of lengthof the blank, said second zone having a side edge extending in the planeof a side edge of the first mentioned zone with the opposite side edgearranged to produce a tapered formation to the zonal portion.

15. A blank of paper stock adapted to produce spools when wound intoconvolution form, said blank having a plurality of integrally-connectedzones, oneof said zones having a uniform width equal to the length ofthe spool and having a length to produce more than a single convolutionof the blank, a second zone the material in which is of less width thansaid first mentioned zone, said zones being defined by a contourformation extending substantially transverse to the direction of lengthof the blank, said second zone embodying two portions spaced apart witha side edge of each portion ex- .tending in the plane of aside edge ofthe first zone.

16. A blank of paper stock adapted to" into convolu-j and zones at theopposite ends of and the material in which is of a less width than saidfirst mentioned zone, said zones being defined by contour formationsextending substantially transverse to the direction of length of theblank.

17. A blank of paper stock adapted to produce spools when wound intoconvolution form, said blank having a plurality of integrally-connectedzones, one of said zones having a uniform width equal to the length ofthe spool and having a length to produce more than a single convolutionof the blank and zones at the opposite ends of and the material in whichis of a less width than said first mentioned zone, said zones beingdefined by contour formations extending substantially transverse to thedirection of length of the blank the respective widths of said end zoneson a cross section of one of the zones being such as to produce a totalwidth equal to the width of the first zone.

18. A blank of paper stock adapted to produce spools when wound intoconvolution form, said blank having a plurality of integrally-connectedzones, one of said zones having a uniform width equal to the length ofthe spool and .having a length to produce more than a single convolutionof the blank and zones at the opposite ends of and the material in whichis of a less width than said first mentioned zone,-said zones being ofthe spool and having a length to produce more than a single convolutionof the blank and zones at the opposite ends of and the material in whichis of a less width than the first mentioned zone, one of said end zonesembodying a pair of zonal portions spaced apart and each having a sideedge extending in the plane of a side edge of the first mentioned zone,said zones being defined by contour formations extending substantiallytransverse to the direction of length of the blank.

20. A spool formed from a single integral sheet of material, including abarrel portion of substantially uniform cross-section formed from aplurality of superposed con- Y volutions, said barrel having concaveends ,formed from the edges of convolutions success'ively reduced inwidth as the center of the spool.

21. A spool formed from a single integral sheet of material, including abarrel portion of substantially uniform cross-section they approachformed from at least one convolution of material, and spaced marginalflanges formed from a plurality of superposed convolutions of materialintegral with that forming the barrel.

22. A spool formed from a single integral sheet of material, including abarrel portion of substantially uniform crosssection formed from aplurality of superposed con- 10 volutions, said barrel having concaveends posed convolutions of material integral with 15 that forming thebarrel.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ROBERT S. BOLGER.

